Marko Đurić, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, says in an interview with Kurir that Serbia has gained a lot from the agreement in the US and that the mini-Schengen will significantly facilitate the lives of people in the region. Đurić also reveals that the Pristina delegation in Washington mostly fled the Gazivoda issue.
photo: AP / Evan Vucci
The agreement signed in Washington was announced as a historic event for Serbia. What did we get out of it?
– I do not think that someone with good intentions and rational should explain why US investment in our road and rail infrastructure is good, encouraging US investment in our economy or why Washington’s support for the so-called mini-Schengen is important. All of these are very concrete and tangible benefits of the conversations we had in the United States. Serbia also won by not losing. We returned from Washington, the administrative seat of the state that practically created the concept of self-proclaimed Kosovo, without any direct or indirect recognition of such a concept, although there were attempts to agree on something like that. To that must be added the resolution of the issue of university degrees and work permits, the protection of SOC facilities … If anyone thinks that this is all bad for Serbia, it is simply not objective, to say the least. harder.
How will the mini-Schengen affect the economy of the region and how will it contribute to the political stability of that part of Europe?
– Facilitating the flow of people, goods, capital and services will not only make economic cooperation in the region more dynamic and lucrative for all, and I am not just referring to central Serbia, Kosovo and Metohija, but will prevent unilateral withdrawal of essentially hostile and destabilizing movements like the introduction. Pristina taxes on Serbian products. There is also a reduction in operating costs in trade, the abolition of several days of unreasonable waiting for trucks at administrative crossings … It is important to note the symbolic side of this agreement. That is, when it is carried out, it will result in a profound change in the state of consciousness, because in the region where we are used to enclosing ourselves with walls and barricades, it will be clear that the antagonism does not have to be a natural state, but the state Natural can and should be cooperation. . You will recognize that it is a much healthier environment to reach new agreements.
photo: Beta / Miloš Miškov
How is Belgrade and Pristina conceived to run Gazivode together?
– Pristina mostly fled from this topic. We have pressed this point and have our own ideas about what would be a fair solution to this problem and we hope that the US Feasibility Study will take our arguments into account. The hydroelectric potential of Lake Gazivoda is divided between central Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija, and the way the electricity produced there so far has been used is simply not fair and is contrary to common sense and logic.
Economic cooperation between Belgrade and Pristina was also discussed at the Brussels meeting. How did the European Community approach economic cooperation?
– There is a reason why in negotiation processes, details are not made public before at least a solution is in sight. I think it is a good thing that the administration in Brussels agrees with the common sense American political logic that economic normalization is something that, by the nature of things, should precede any other normalization. I believe that in this field, Brussels and Washington will find a way to perform successfully in a complementary or synchronized way.
In Brussels it was announced that during the next meeting, in addition to the issue of ZSO, the issue of property will also be opened. What specific assets are understood (legal or physical persons)?
– For us, Kosovo and Metohija is an autonomous province of RS and we have a trace of each investment in that part of the territory of our country. There is no joke with property in international law, because its inviolability is the basis of the stability of modern civilization. I will just mention that the private property of the Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija comprises 164,664 hectares, which is about 15 percent of the province’s territory, that 14 percent of the property is owned by companies registered in the central Serbia, while about 30 percent of the area is owned by Serbia. It is, therefore, state and social property. Regarding the value of what we now have on the ground as a people and as a State, because a large part of that property has been usurped or devastated, it is not possible to speak with enough certainty at this time. I will also remind you that the state of Serbia continues to repay all the loans for the funds invested in Kosovo and Metohija, so far around 660 million euros, and that no one thinks that we did not know what we were doing when, as a state, we made such a decision .
ON THE LEADER OF THE DOOR Bosko admitted that he regrets the Djukanovic regime
Đurić said that the leader of Dveri, Boško Obradović, finally admitted that he regretted the regime of Milo ,ukanović, because he said that under that government, the Serbian Orthodox Church had never been more free, independent media and democratic institutions.
– Boško Obradović’s obsession with power is so great that he sees the victory of the opposition in Montenegro, which he would now compare with his personal ambition, as a result of the conditions set by Milo’s “democracy”, and not as a consequence of support popular – statedurić stated in statement.
photo: Marina Lopicic
Kurir.rs, Katarina Blagović / Photo: Zorana Jevtić, Marina Lopičić
